Position sensing device for a rotatable game reel

ABSTRACT

Apparatus employing the value, such as resistance, of an electrical component to indicate by translating apparatus which symbol is displayed on a stationary reel of a slot machine, and effecting this by no more than two leads. This is achieved by mounting a number of resistors on a plate rotated with the reel and connecting across a pair of stationary wipers the resistor of appropriate value when the reel stops spinning.

United States Patent Richards et al.

Oct. 21, 1975 POSITION SENSING DEVICE FOR A ROTATABLE GAME REELInventors: Basil James Richards, Double Bay;

Roger Anthony Adams, West Ryde, both of Australia Assignee: New CenturyNovelty Company PTY. Ltd., Rushcutters Bay, Australia Filed: July 2,1973 Appl. No.: 375,863

Foreign Application Priority Data July 5, 1972 Australia 9579/72 US. Cl2.73/143 R Int. Cl. A63F 5/04 Field of Search 273/143 R, 143 A, 143 B,273/143 C, 143 D, 143 E, 138 A, 138 R, 273/139, 141 A, 1 E; 235/61 PG,61 PH, 235/61PJ, 61 PS, 61 PD; 340/162, 177 VA, 340/188 R, 188 CH, 201R, 201 P, 373;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,302,333 11/1942 Linke273/138 A UX 2,689,082 9/1954 Kolisch 235/61 PS FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 41,594 2/1971 Australia 273/138 A 1,233,081 5/1971 UnitedKingdom 273/143 R Primary ExaminerRichard C. Pinkham AssistantExaminerAmold W. Kramer Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Waters, Schwartz &Nissen [57] ABSTRACT Apparatus employing the value, such as resistance,of an electrical component to indicate by translating apparatus whichsymbol is displayed on a stationary reel of a slot machine, andeffecting this by no more than two leads. This is achieved by mounting anumber of resistors on a plate rotated with the reel and connectingacross a pair of stationary wipers the resistor of appropriate valuewhen the'reel stops spinning.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures US. Patent Oct. 21, 1975 Sheet10f3 3,913,922

FIG. 1

U.S. Patent Oct. 21, 1975 Sheet 2 of3 3,913,922

U.S. Patent 0a. 21, 1975 Sheet 3 of3 3,913,922

FIG. 3

POSITION SENSING DEVICE FOR A ROTATABLE GAME REEL This invention relatesto apparatus for deriving information relating to the rest position of amovable member which is capable of coming to rest in any one of aplurality of positions. The rotatable reel of a fruit, poker or slotmachine is a typical example of such a movable member with the saidapparatus serving to sense the character displayed by the machine eachtime the reel becomes stationary.

So-called three-reel machines are invariably constructed whereby aperforated indexing plate is secured to and rotatable with each reel,and indexing fingers are arranged to be inserted through two or three ofthe perforations when in register. The degree of insertion of theindexing fingers serves to control automatic payout equipmentcommensurate with the value of the bonus assigned to the particularwinning combination at that time displayed by the machine. Where amachine is provided with four or more reels, however, this form ofsensing becomes complicated and other means are usually employed. Insome instances these means include photo-optical apparatus andmulti-track concentric electrical wiping apparatus from which a largenumber of electrical leads extend to electrical translating equipment.Therefore, the necessary cableform and general electrical wiring inmachines incorporating three, four or more rotatable reels is complexand additionally increases maintenance difficulties.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide a means forsimplifying, and economizing on, the electrical wiring between the reelposition-sensing apparatus and the translating equipment in these andsimilar types of machines.

In one general form of the invention there is provided sensing apparatusfor signalling by an electrical connection to electrical translatingequipment an indication of the rest position of a movable member capableof coming to rest in any one of a plurality of positions, said sensingapparatus comprising a terminal-carrying mounting element movable withthe member, electrical components carried by said mounting element andsecured to terminals thereon at least some of which components are ofdifferent values, and means contacting terminals on said mountingelement when the movable member is at rest and connecting with saidelectrical connection to connect across an input to said translat-.

ing equipment at least one of said electrical components the value ofwhich is representative of the rest position of said movable member.

The invention will be better understood from the following descriptionin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a three-reel slot machine in front elevation;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded perspective of one of the display reelunits incorporated in the machine of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a further exploded perspective of the display reel unit ofFIG. 2 from a viewing position behind the mounting panel thereof.

According to a preferred embodiment and as shown by FIG. 1 the inventionis applied to a multi-reel fruit, or poker, machine 4 each reel 5 ofwhich is permitted in each operation to spin freely and ultimately tostop at any one of a number of rest positions in each of which acharacteristic symbol 6 on the reel periphery 5A is revealed through adisplay window 7. In most cases a duplication of at least some symbols 6occurs around the reel periphery 5A and for automatic functioning of themachine apparatus must be provided to identify the displayed symbol 6 onthe reel 5, i.e. the angular position of the reel 5, so that computationof the displayed combination simultaneously on all reels 5 may be madeto instigate an automatic bonus payout if appropriate. In the machine 4incorporating this invention, the identifying apparatus includeselectrical translating equipment which receives by cableform 8A an inputfrom sensing apparatus 9 whereby it is automatically conditioned toprovide the required identification. The translating apparatus 8 maytake any suitable form which will compare, or otherwise respond to, thevalue of an electrical component connected to its input to'provide asignal indicative of the displayed symbol 6.

Withreference to FIGS. 2 and 3 is will be seen that the sensingapparatus 9 consists of a mounting disc 10 of electrically insulatingmaterial provided with screws 11 for fixture to a side of its respectivereel 5, for rotation therewith, on which a concentric circle ofelectrical terminals 12, each provided withcontact faces 13, is mounted.The said contact faces 13 are presented on a face 10A of the disc 10remote from the associated reel 5. A continuous concentric conductor toform a common electrical circuit may be provided with a contacting faceon said remote face 10A of the disc and be spaced from the terminals 12.It is preferred, however, that instead of the continuous conductoranother circle 14 of contacts 14A be provided each paired with acorresponding one of the terminal contacts 13. Individual electricalcomponents 15 are connected between the common circuit of contacts 14Aare respective ones of i the terminals 12. In one form these components15 are resistors but they may be any other electrical component orcombination of components. Preferably, the symbols 6 on the periphery ofthe reel 5 are identified by the value of the electrical component orcomponents 15 between each respepctive terminal 12 and the commoncircuit of contacts 14A.

A pair of spring-loaded contacting wiper arms 16 at a stationaryposition are provided each for engagement with either the common circuitconductors 14A or the circle of terminals contacts 13. These wipers 16need not continually wipe their respective contacting surfaces duringoperation of the machine 4, but may be displaced so as to make contactwhen the associated reel 5 on the machine 4 has come to rest. Theposition of the wipers 16 with respect to the terminal contact 13 and14A is so arranged that the value of the component or components 15effectively connected across the wipers 16 in any rest position of thereel 5 will cause the translating equipment 8 connected to the wipers 16to respond for identification of the symbol 6 displayed by the machine 4in that rest position. It will be appreciated, therefore, that merelytwo electrical leads 17 and 18 will be necessary for interconnection ofthe sensing apparatus 9 to the translating equipment 8 and these areshown connected to appropriate terminals 19 and 20 on a connector plug21 to facilitate ready insertion and resplacement of a display reelunit.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the reels 5 of the machine 4 of FIG. 1 may beof a modular form. That is, each reel 5 is mounted on an individualmounting panel 22 and driven by spring bolt 23 from an individualelectric motor 24, the power for which is connected via the connectorplug 21 through a pair of leads 25. In order to provide for conventionalfacilities with rotatable reels for these machines 4, a solenoid 26 isalso wired to the connector plug 21 and a pivoted bellcrank lever 27rotatable at one end 28 by the plunger of the solenoid 26 has anabutment 29 at its opposite end normally urged by a bias spring 30 intoengagement with notches 31 in the periphery of the mounting disc 9 toact as a conventional brake on the reel 5. Energization of the solenoid26 disengages the brake. A microswitch 32 operable by the abutment 29 onthe bellcrank 27 when the brake is applied is also wired to theconnector plug 21.

The assembled components and the mounting panel 22 form a dislay reelunit 33 which may be slid into position in the machine 4. Due to thesimplicity of the wiring from the sensing apparatus 9 an 8-pin connectorplug 21 will suffice. Whether a plug-in reel unit 33 is emloyed oralternately a conventiona multi-reel spindle assembly, the electricalwiring and cableforms are quite simple. It will be noted from the wiringon the face 35 of, the mounting disc 9 that a single resistor, or otherelectrical component or circuit, is provided for each different displaysymbol 6 and all repeated positions of that symbol 6 correspond tocontacts 13 on the mounting disc 9 which are wired in common by straps34 to the appropriate resistor.

Whereas a preferred embodiment has been described in theforegoing it isto be understood that other forms are possible within the scope of thisinvention. For example, as an alternative to the above embodiment theelectrical components may be replaced by a rheostat provided with aplurality of tappings each being connected to a respective terminal 12while one part of the rheostat is connected to the common circuitcontacts 14A. Furthermore, only a single wiper 16 will be required, i.e.that associated with the terminal contacts 13, if the common circuit isprovided by other means such as by grounding one side of the electricalcomponents 15 to the shaft 36 upon which the reel 5 rotates. Also it isfeasible to reverse the position of the wipers 16 and thecontact-carrying disc 9 so that the disc 9 remains stationary while thewipers 16 rotate with the reel 5. Axial displacement of the disc 9 maythen be employed for contact with the wipers 16.

We claim:

1. In a rotatable reel gaming machine including a plurality of reelseach carrying for individual display on its periphery a series ofsymbols some of which are repeated in the series, electrical translatingequipment for said reels and a pair of electrical leads connecting eachsaid reel to respective inputs of said translating equipment, sensingapparatus breach of said reels comprising an electrically insulatingindex disc fixed to said reel, pairs of electrical terminals, each ofsaid pairs being disposed in different ones of two concentric circles ofterminals on said index disc, electrical resistors on said index discand connected between respective pairs of said terminals whereby eachdifferent symbol on said reel is assigned a different value ofelectrical resistance, means for indexing each reel, and a pair ofcontactors for each of said reels with each contactor of a pairconnected with a respective one of said leads of said pairs ofelectrical leads and with said pair of contactors in contact with a pairof said electrical terminals when the respective one of said reels isindexed by said indexing means so as to connect to said electricaltranslating equipment a resistance value indicative of the symboldisplayed by said indexed reel.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the pairs of electricalterminals corresponding to at least some of said repeated symbols areinterconnected through a common electrical resistor corresponding tosaid repeated symbols.

1. In a rotatable reel gaming machine including a plurality of reelseach carrying for individual display on its periphery a series ofsymbols some of which are repeated in the series, electrical translatingequipment for said reels and a pair of electrical leads connecting eachsaid reel to respective inputs of said translating equipment, sensingapparatus for each of said reels comprising an electrically insulatingindex disc fixed to said reel, pairs of electrical terminals, each ofsaid pairs being disposed in different ones of two concentric circles ofterminals on said index disc, electrical resistors on said index discand connected between respective pairs of said terminals whereby eachdifferent symbol on said reel is assigned a different value ofelectrical resistance, means for indexing each reel, and a pair ofcontactors for each of said reels with each contactor of a pairconnected with a respective one of said leads of said pairs ofelectrical leads and with said pair of contactors in contact with a pairof said electrical terminals when the respective one of said reels isindexed by said indexing means so as to connect to said electricaltranslating equipment a resistance value indicative of the symboldisplayed by said indexed reel.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 inwhich the pairs of electrical terminals corresponding to at least someof said repeated symbols are interconnected through a common electricalresistor corresponding to said repeated symbols.